News

A dozen members of Ferradermis traveled to Rockford, Illinois on Saturday, July 22 to compete with 30 robots from Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin at the Rock River Robotics Offseason Competition (R2OC) at Rock Valley College. This was an opportunity for the team to work with many other teams that they had never encountered in competition before.

The team was led onto the field by Driver Andrew O’Toole, Operator Ace Hudec, Human Player Erison Dreksler, Technicians Chacha Binagi and Rae Breisath, and Drive Coach Jacob Lee. Other team members worked together to scout robots and prepare for matches and alliance selections including Emerson Dunham, Zoe Olson, and Andrew Zimmermann. Margaret Brown took on the job of filming each match for the Drive Team to analyze and use to adjust strategy between matches. Administrative Team members Maddi LaHaie and Ghati Binagi took care of our team’s donation to the event’s collection of toiletries and canned food for the Rockford Rescue Mission. We were also joined by Class of 2023 alum Mel Prince and mentors Rob Prager, Mark Zimmermann, and Rich Grosse, along with several parents who helped lead the cheers from the stands.

Ferradermis went 3-2 in their five qualification matches, but they earned enough ranking points to be ranked 8^th out of 30 teams at the end of quals. Ranking points not only come from wins but from other tasks the robots perform while on the field. According to stats on The Blue Alliance website, Ferradermis was ranked 4^th overall in scoring during the autonomous period, 4^th overall in scoring during the tele-op period, and 2^nd overall in scoring during the end game, placing them high on other teams’ lists for alliance selections.

Although they were already in the position of being the #8 alliance captain during alliance selections, Ferradermis was the first pick of the #4 alliance captain, Team 3061 Huskie Robotics from Naperville North High School in Naperville, Illinois and gladly accepted their invitation to move to the higher ranked alliance. 6574 and 3061 then invited Team 648 QC ELITE Flaming Squirrels, a community team from the Quad Cities in Iowa as their next pick. The four-team alliance was finalized when the group added Team 967 Iron Lions from Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa to their team. Normally alliances only consist of three teams, but in certain events a fourth robot is added as a backup.

The alliance’s playoff run did not last long as 6574 struggled with an electrical issue in the first match that left their bot unable to drive, and the bot belonging to our captain 3061 quickly tipped over in the second match of the double elimination tournament. The team spent the remainder of the day cheering on PWNAGE, an historically successful community-based team from St. Charles, Illinois, that will be disbanding after this event due to the loss of their sole sponsor, who also housed the team’s workspace, after the company was sold. Teams in FIRST Robotics are either considered school-based or community-based, and listening to this team’s story made Ferradermis even that much more grateful for the broad support they receive from their multitude of sponsors in the Whitewater community as well as the school district.

If you’d like to learn more about Ferradermis, the team will have the robot at the Whitewater City Market on July 25, August 8, and August 22 (weather permitting). They will also be in action at Mukwonago High School on Friday, July 28 from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, July 29 from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. for MROC, the Mukwonago Robotics Offseason Competition. This event is free and open to the public. Additional new members will be accepted at the start of the school year. Incoming freshmen will have the opportunity to sign up at the Activities Fair on the first day of school. Other interested students should reach out to a current team member or to advisor Laura Masbruch. There will be a mandatory parent meeting for all participants on Wednesday, October 4, at 7:00 p.m. in the high school library. The team will have one more offseason competition this fall with the current robot before beginning to build a brand new robot for a totally different game when it is revealed in January.

Article Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor and Banner Volunteer
lmasbruch@wwusd.org
Action Photos Courtesy of Rich Grosse

Concert In The Park, Thursday, July 27th Ladies Must Swing @ 7p.m. Cravath Lakefront Park

It’s going to be an amazing night of Jazz in the Park! Grab your blanket, dinner and join us for this Free & Family Concert In The Park with Ladies Must Swing. Concert starts at 7:00 p.m. 

Ladies Must Swing is about inspiration and encouragement given by lovers of good music and finding out what entertains and makes them happy. Over 22 years ago, LMS became Ladies Must Swing which came from Linda Marty Schmitz, President of the Madison Jazz Society, which also gave us our very first performance opportunity!

The presence of women playing jazz has gotten a lot of attention over the last decade and we are grateful for that. We intend to keep the musical momentum going and invite you to come see us, hear us, dance to us, celebrate with us, and re-live history!

Thank you to our Sponsor Whitewater TDS Fiber.

Editor’s note: The following press release was received from the Whitewater Police Department. The original report on the Banner may be found here.

Whitewater Police Department Notifies Community that Attempted Child Abduction Did Not Occur

July 24th, 2023 – The Whitewater Police Department wishes to notify the community that continued investigation into the reported child abduction attempt revealed that the incident did not occur. The reporting individual informed police that the account given was false. Based on this information, there is no known threat to the community, and all previously provided suspect descriptions should be disregarded. We are continuing to work with the reporting individual to ensure any necessary services are provided.

City of Whitewater Urban Forestry Commission – Monday @ 4:30 p.m.
Agenda
Cravath Lakefront Room – 2nd Floor and Virtual
312 W. Whitewater St.
Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://meet.goto.com/603819989
You can also dial in using your phone.
Access Code: 603-819-989
United States: +1 (571) 317-3122

Al Stanek captured this photo of a resting buck on July 21, “just off the Ice Age bike trail.”

Our thanks to Al Stanek for sharing this beautiful image.

— Our Readers Share: We hope that you might have something that you’d be willing to share.  Anything that’s been created by someone else should, of course, be credited, and you should ask their permission if you’re able. We cannot post copyrighted material without permission. We can’t guarantee that we’ll have space for all submissions, and contributions will be subject to editorial board approval. The one definite exclusion is anything politically oriented. We will assume that you’re willing for us to include your name as the submitter unless you indicate that you prefer to remain anonymous. Send to whitewaterbanner@gmail.com or click on “submit a story” near the top right of our homepage.  Thanks for thinking about this!

Want to know more about beekeeping? Interested in how you can support local honeybees and other pollinators even if you aren’t going to keep bees? Community members are invited to a free workshop at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library on Tuesday, July 25 at 5:30 p.m.  

There will be a basic discussion on beekeeping in the Midwest, presented by Stephanie Slater, President of the Walworth County Beekeepers Association and the 2022 Wisconsin Honey Producers Association Beekeeper of the Year. Come prepared with all of your honeybee questions!  

The library is located at 431 W. Center Street in Whitewater. There is no cost or registration to attend. Contact Sarah French with questions or accommodation requests at sfrench@whitewater-wi.gov or 262-568-2782.